The only subject I know anything about is myself and I don't know that too clearly. William Shatner

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Beyond Fitness

Being fit, exercising every day, and eating the right foods, does not guarantee a long life. Before my illness with a vasculitis disease, I walked three to five miles every other day. I was careful of my salt intake. I took a multi-vitamin and I ate a balanced diet. I was lean and I was healthy.

My life was filled with responsibility, education, and independence. I had learned many years before that being in good physical shape did not guarantee life. At the Navy training base in Pensacola, Florida, a thirty-two year old runner died from a heart attack as he was running his usual ten miles a day. He forgot that he needed to be acclimatized before he did heavy exercise in the Florida sun. Healthy is the default setting not the guarantee.

When I reached the age of forty-one, I thought that I caught a stomach flu. But it didn’t go away. I vomitted every four hours for two weeks. When I went to the ER, the ER doctors suggested that I had a mental problem. But, what was really happening was I was losing my kidneys. They hadn’t a clue.